Appointment of new Lottery board chair delayed by three more months
Zandile Brown was announced as acting board chairperson to the National Lotteries Commission but Brown’s appointment has been delayed until March 2021 at the earliest, GroundUp reports. This is the latest development in CCIJ South Africa Hub Leader Raymond Joseph’s investigation into the country’s National Lotteries Commission. The announcement of Brown’s appointment has been controversial, as many have pointed out she sat on the board during a period of corruption allegations.
Read the whole story here.
Call for Proposals: CCIJ Africa Water Reporting Grant
The Center for Collaborative Investigative Journalism is looking to support two water-related stories that bring together data, visual, and investigative elements.
We would prefer applications from the following countries but will also consider pitches from other African countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote de Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Togo, and Zambia.
Your budget should cover all the costs related to the story, including fees for team members, travel, and any other related costs. We will pay 60 percent of the fee up front on the signing of a contract. The balance will be paid only once the story is edited and ready for publication.
Read more about the application requirements here.
CCIJ’s NewsMatch campaign surpasses 100 donor goal on #GivingNewsDay
This past Tuesday, on what we prefer to call #GivingNewsDay, we joined news organizations around the country in celebrating ethical, independent, and fact-based journalism like ours. Our goal on Tuesday was to reach 100 donors to receive a NewsMatch bonus. Thanks to our supporters, we surpassed our goal and have raised over $12,700! Your continued support will allow us to provide our journalists with the resources they need to produce stories that leave a lasting impact.
Member Spotlight: Sonja Smith
We couldn’t produce impactful journalism without our dedicated members like Sonja Smith, a Namibian journalist. Smith’s hard-hitting stories hold power to account. She is driven by her desire to expose corruption and influence the narrative and debates in Namibia, the region, and continent.
With our financial and editorial support, Sonja wrote a powerful story about people dying for water in the remote San community of Amarika. And she spoke about her work on both of our podcasts, Transparency Talks and Waterless. In addition, she also reached out to CCIJ for a statement of solidarity when a Namibian colleague was confronting a crackdown on constitutionally-guaranteed press freedoms.
You can make an impact
We believe that the most important news stories leave a lasting impact and also elevate local and regional issues to a national and international platform.
The funding we raise during NewsMatch will set us up for 2021, allowing us to continue filling a critical need—producing stories that inform our readers on important issues and hold our leaders accountable. There is still time to support CCIJ through NewsMatch. Will you help us reach our fundraising goal of $20,000 before the end of the year?
Click here to donate today.